Deliver Your News to the World

Alcatel inaugurates its first mobile services hosting center for West and Central Africa in Dakar


WEBWIRE

Dakar and Paris, June 20, 2006 - Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) announced the opening of its first mobile services hosting center for West and Central Africa at the GSM West Africa Exhibition which will be held in Dakar, June 20 - 21, 2006. This center will enable operators of all sizes to introduce rapidly and economically innovative mobile services adapted to the local content and accessible to the largest possible number of Africans.

The Dakar center provides its customers with various mobile services platforms, and more particularly:

* Services to private individuals and communities: mobile access to the Internet, personalized mobile portal, access to local and international content, premium services : SMS, WAP, MMS (multimedia messaging, polyphonic ring tones, games, news, mobile “blogs”, etc.), as well as more higher-level services such as video and music,
* Professional and corporate services : mobile e-mail, business agenda, address book, Internet security, production price monitoring.


By stimulating the use of these high added value mobile services, Alcatel will help make better use of mobile communication to favor economic and social development in the region. These new services will meet the users’ expectations by simplifying their every-day life.

Housed on Alcatel’s premises in Dakar, this center provides operators with GPRS/EDGE mobile services platforms operated and maintained by Alcatel. All that is needed to activate the services on the operator’s networks is a simple Internet connection. The center provides and manages local and international content and offers operators a 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week product support service. Operators who only have a GSM network will also get the integral benefit of these services right from the start without having to invest in a GPRS or EDGE infrastructure. The new center in Dakar will enable operators to focus on their core activity – that is to say their subscribers – while at the same time minimizing their investment and operating costs.

Alcatel’s “Mobile Kiosk”, one of the “killer” applications of the Dakar hosting center, will be presented on Alcatel’s stand at the GSM West Africa trade fair (stand 1, Le Méridien Président Hotel).

Alcatel’s turnkey “mobile kiosk” solution that enables an unlimited number of SMS, MMS, WAP and video services to be integrated, controlled and managed, should attract a large number of operators and content providers located in the region. It is a perfect illustration of Alcatel’s determination to create a true “ecosystem” between operators, content suppliers and local partners.

The Alcatel solution minimizes the operators’ investment costs while at the same time drastically reducing operating costs by industrializing and automating the bulk of the mobile services management tasks. Moreover, the “mobile kiosk” service manages the technological and operational part of the portal, including its integration in each operator’s mobile network, thereby greatly facilitating their task.

Henceforth available in Senegal, Alcatel’s “Mobile Kiosk” has already been singled out by Orange Cameroon for its “Orange World” portal, ensuring the selection and management of content from international providers and local partners. Orange Cameroon is using the Alcatel stand at the GSM West Africa Exhibition to present its new services, including national news, international sport, downloading of ring tones, daily horoscopes, etc.

Yves Happi, Products & Services Manager d’Orange Cameroon testifies: “With Alcatel as our technical partner, we are betting on the reliability of their system and the expertise of their teams. We are proud to be among the first operators in francophone Africa to be able to offer this solution. Thanks to Alcatel’s multimedia portal we are convinced that our new services will be successful and enable Internet access via the GPRS networks.”

“The Dakar Hosting Center, and Alcatel’s ”Mobile Kiosk“ in particular, will allow the rapid introduction of new content and mobile services in our customers’ networks with very low operating costs, making these services accessible to a growing number of users” emphasized John Herrinck, vice president of the service office for Alcatel’s mobile communications activities. “ We are proud to bring economical solutions to Senegal and to be the only player in the region to propose a hosted turnkey solution such as ”Mobile Kiosk".


About Alcatel
Alcatel provides communications solutions to telecommunication carriers, Internet service providers and enterprises for delivery of voice, data and video applications to their customers or employees. Alcatel brings its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks, applications and services, to help its partners and customers build a user-centric broadband world. With sales of EURO 13.1 billion and 58,000 employees in 2005, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com



WebWireID15480





This news content was configured by WebWire editorial staff. Linking is permitted.

News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.